>Because of the 'politics' that surrounded the Christmas ferrets rescue,
>I was left with a very bad taste in my mouth about SOS and some of the
>people involved.  Being out West, isolates me from the realities of
>Eastern ferret politics so I may only be getting half or 1/4 of the real
>stories behind everything going on.
 
We actually didn't get involved with the "politics" surrounding the rescue..
we gave to BOTH organizations that worked on this rescue.  In addition, I
went down to the township animal shelter and physically assisted in the
rescue myself.
 
>They are usually costly to run and maintain and only a small portion of
>the monies received, earmarked for a given charity, etc. ever reach the
>earmarked party.  Perhaps SOS does not have any overhead...probably not,
>but my business logic still throws up a cautionary flag...as it does for
>**any** fundraising organization.
 
We have pretty much no overhead.  Well, actually, we DO have overhead ..
but we pretty much pay for it out of our own pockets (Judith, Georgia,
and I).  Our books are open for whomever would like to examine them ..
but I would estimate that about 99% of the funds we raise go directly to
the ferrets.  The other 1% is spent on phone calls to shelters, shipping
(colouring books, bumper stickers, supplies to shelters, etc.) and
miscellaneous other expenses of that nature.
 
Like I said, though, we pay for almost all of the "overhead" out of our
own pockets.  For instance, on the ferret raffle ..  the raffle basket
(plus shipping to the winner) was donated by a very kind person, which is
what made the raffle possible in the first place.
 
In turn, I decided to donate a dozen ferret soaps, plus the cost of postage
and supplies to send them to the winners, out of my own pocket.  I have
spent the past two evenings wrapping and packaging soaps (which is also
why I haven't gotten around to posting more winner names, btw .. sorry!).
I sent the last of them out this morning, and I'd say that that cost me
around $35 ..  including postage, the soap supplies themselves, and the
packaging.
 
Again, though, ALL of the prizes and shipping for prizes in the raffle
were donated ... so 100% of the money that came in from the raffle will
go to ferrets.  This is the way pretty much all of our fundraisers work.
 
BTW, if I'm not mistaken, Sharon and Georgia have been paying 100% of the
cost of Kouri's Klub out of their own pocket (as a fundraiser for SOS) so
far, too.  I believe Sharon said that it has cost them over $100 so far
to do so .. and they definitely deserve to be commended for that!
 
- Ela
[Posted in FML issue 3483]